Odisha senior cricket team achieved a glorious feat by gaining three points from their Group-C Ranji Trophy match, which ended in a thrilling draw against Tamil Nadu on the fourth and last day at DRIEMS Cricket Ground, Tangi, 20 kms from here today.

The draw was as good as a victory for host Odisha, who secured the three precious points by virtue of first-innings lead, overtaking Tamil Nadu’s mammoth total of 530 for eight declared with one wicket in hand. The memorable match ended when Odisha vice-captain Basant Mohanty gave his team the all-important lead, hitting Washington Sundar for a four.

Young wicket-keeper batsman Rajesh Dhuper turned out to be the hero of Odisha’s incredible success, hitting a career-best 97, which happens to be his maiden first-class half-century. Returning to the state senior team after a gap of two years, 17-year-old Cuttack lad showed great sense of responsibility and courage at a time when the chips were down. Taking charge when Odisha were struggling at 310 for five, Dhuper hung on for more than five hours and carried the team to the doorstep of the first-innings-lead with valuable support of the lower order.

When Dhuper was dismissed by Sundar, Odisha were still five runs behind the opposition total. But Mohanty and Dhiraj Singh held their nerve to give the hosts their well-deserved three points. Dhuper’s 225-ball valiant knock, which was studded with 12 boundaries and two sixes, fetched him the award as man of the match.

Inspired by Dhuper’s gem of a knock, lower-order batsmen also came up substantial contributions for Odisha. Among them, Suryakant Pradhan slammed a 39-ball 43 (4x4, 2x6) and Alok Sahoo hit a 66-ball 36 (4x4, 2x6). Earlier in the day, Shantanu Mishra (71) registered his maiden first-class half-century and Biplab Samantaray (50) his 15th after Odisha resumed at the overnight score of 286 for four. Odisha now have five points from four matches and they will next meet Baroda at Reliance Cricket Stadium in Vadodara from November 17 to 20.

Earlier in the innings, Odisha got a solid foundation with openers Sandeep Pattanaik and Natraj Behera putting on 128 runs for the opening wicket. But after notching his maiden first-class fifty, Pattanaik was dismissed for 66, which came off 192 balls and included 11 hits to the rope.

Behera was more unlucky as he missed out on his ninth first-class century by nine runs. But his 208-ball knock, which was studded with 13 boundaries and one six, helped him return to form after a series of disappointing ones earlier this season.

With Behera adding 48 runs for the second wicket with captain Govinda Poddar, Odisha were well placed at one stage, making 176 for one. But Tamil Nadu allrounder Washington Sundar dismissed Poddar and Subhranshu Senapati in one over to put the home team on the back foot. Odisha, in fact, lost three wickets in space of 32 runs as Rahil Shah scalped opener Behera for 91. However, Mishra and Samantaray stemmed the rot by putting on 102 runs for the fifth-wicket stand.

In the Tamil Nadu innings, as many as three batsmen scored a century each and another registered a half-century for Tamil Nadu. India Test opener Murali Vijay (140) was joined by Vijay Shankar (100) and Baba Aparajith (109 not out) as the ton-makers of the innings. The 178-run partnership for the fifth-wicket between Vijay Shankar and Baba Aparajith was the highest of the innings and put the visitors in a commanding position.

Odisha bowlers continued to struggle on the wicket and three leading ones among them _ Basant Mohanty, Dhiraj Singh and Alok Sahoo _ went wicketless. Speedster Suryakant Pradhan was most successful bowler for the home team, taking three wickets for 75 runs, while skipper Govinda Poddar and allrounder Biplab Samantaray picked a brace each.

Opting to bat after winning the toss on the opening day, Tamil Nadu suffered an early setback as captain Abhinab Mukund was run out by Dhiraj Singh for 12. But Murali and N Jagadeesan carried the team to good position with a 145-run partnership for the second wicket. Jagadeesan missed his century by 12 runs.

But Murali went on to make 140 before being caught and bowled by Suryakant Pradhan. He faced 273 balls and hit 15 boundaries and a six. Odisha made two changes in their team, including wicket-keeper Rajesh Dhuper and bowling allrounder Alok Sahoo in place of Saurabh Rawat and Deepak Behera.

SCOREBORAD:

TAMIL NADU (1st innings): Abhinav Mukund (run out) Dhiraj Singh 12, Murali Vijay ct&b Pradhan 140, N Jagadeesan c Dhuper b Poddar 88, B Indrajith c Dhuper b Pradhan 46, Vijay Shankar lbw Samantaray 100, Baba Aparajith (not out) 109, M Washington Sundar c Senapati b Poddar 14, V Yomahesh lbw Samantaray 0, Vignesh K b Pradhan 10, Rahil Shah (not out) 4; Extras (b-6, lb-1) 7
Total (8 wickets deckared; 165 overs) 530
Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Mukund, 11.2 ov), 2-164 (Jagadeesan, 56.6), 3-282 (Vijay, 85.5), 4-298 (Indrajith, 92.2), 5-475 (V Shankar, 152.2), 6-494 (Sundar, 155.4), 7-495 (Yomahesh, 156.3), 8-521 (Vignesh, 162.6)
Bowling: Suryakant Pradhan 25-6-75-3, Basant Mohanty 27-5-73-0, Alok Sahoo 23-5-80-0, Biplab Samantaray 19-0-57-2, Dhiraj Singh 37-7-112-0, Govinda Poddar 32-2-117-2, Shantanu Mishra 2-0-9-0.

ODISHA (1st innings): Sandeep Pattanaik c K Gandhi (Sub) b Yomahesh 66, Natraj Behera lbw Shah 91, Govinda Poddar c Mukund b Sundar 29, Subhranshu Senapati b Sundar 4, Shantanu Mishra c Indrajith b Sundar 71, Biplab Samantaray st Jagadeesan b Shankar 50, Rajesh Dhuper c Indrajith b Sundar 97, Alok Sahoo c Jagadeesan b Yomahesh 36, Suryakant Pradhan lbw Yomahesh 43, Basant Mohanty (not out) 18, Dhiraj Singh (not out) 2; Extras (b-16, lb-9, nb-1) 26
Total (9 wickets; 187.1 overs) 533
Fall of wickets: 1-128 (S Pattanaik, 41.3 ov), 2-176 (Poddar, 61.1), 3-180 (Senapati, 61.5), 4-208 (N Behera, 70.2), 5-310 (Samantaray, 116.6), 6-352 (Mishra, 139.6), 7-414 (Sahoo, 161.1), 8-472 (Pradhan, 175.2), 9-525 (Dhuper, 185.4)
Bowling: Vignesh K 37-7-98-0, V Yomahesh 29-12-60-3, Vijay Shankar 23.3-5-78-1, Rahil Shah 45-14-109-1, Washington Sundar 35.1-12-95-4, Lakshman 12.3-2-51-0, B Aparajith 5-1-17-0.
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PHOTO: Odisha wicket-keeper-batsman Rajesh Dhuper after playing a gem of a knock in their Ranji match against Tamil Nadu on Nov 12, 2017.